SEATTLE — An estimated 1,000-2,000 people are exploited every night in Seattle. That’s according to Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST), a local non-profit that tracks prostitution and sex trafficking in the Northwest.
It’s believed the true number is under-reported.
Many of the women working in the sex trade are easy targets for people looking to exploit them: often homeless, victims of sexual abuse, and violence, and struggling with addiction.
A former prostitute went on the record with KING 5's Joyce Taylor after living through the experience and surviving.
We’re not naming her or showing her face. And we want to warn you, what you are about to read is not appropriate for young audiences.
Joyce Taylor: You've had a life of drug abuse before 18. Sex abuse, emotional abuse, emotional trauma, mental health issues.
"All I know is prostitution. That's all I know, my 18th birthday, literally is the day I got into this industry. That is all I know."
Taylor: So what happened when you turned 18?
"I was still in the foster care system. I'm still on drugs very heavily. I was sleeping outside. I was homeless. I figured why not go and make money doing something I'm already doing than be a drug addict on the streets?"
Taylor: Tell me about a typical night on the street for you, as a prostitute.
"Usually, I'm in my car or in a hotel room and I'm seeing "John's" left to right back-to-back. And the average night, I could make up to $1,000.
To make the money that I had to make for my pimp I’m seeing at least 10 "John's" a day."
Taylor: Explain why that made sense to you at the time versus being an independent, commercial sex worker.
"I felt like, well, if I give him all my money, like they say, that's what you're supposed to do. He's going to take care of me. He's going to protect me. He's going to love me. And he's going to show me how to be a businessperson."
Taylor: But that is not what happened.
"That is not what happened."
Taylor: You’ve seen a lot of violence.
"Yeah. I would do something that would trigger him. And he would abuse me to the point where he would black out and there was no coming out of it."
Taylor: You sent me a picture of IVs in your arm.
"Yeah. From the hospital."
Taylor: Yes, what happened?
"He punched me so bad in the face that my eyes swelled up that I could not open my eyes for about a week, maybe longer."
Taylor: You even put a post online saying, 'I could have called the police.'
"But instead, I called my dad.
From there, the police started watching me. They started investigating. They were concerned for my safety - I got into a sting. They really broke down everything to me.
This man who sat there for six and a half years, like I could honestly start crying, took my money that I sat there and risked my life for and did nothing for me. And while he was in prison, he gave me to his brother to his friend, for them to keep profiting from me, prostituting. And it’s just- it's pathetic."
Taylor: You were literally being trafficked and you didn’t know it.
"I didn’t even know. I just thought that they were taking care of me. You do have someone taking care of you. They were like okay, 'I want to take care of you,' so you don’t have to be seen by a bunch of different men a day, selling your body and all that."
Taylor: We're talking about a sugar daddy, basically, this is the situation that you have now.
"Yeah, yeah."
Taylor: In your mind, is that different than prostitution?
"With a sugar daddy, you're not out just accepting money to have sex. You are giving off an experience or persona of being somebody's companion."
Taylor: What’s next for you?
"What's next for me is the exit plan. My exit plan is really hoping to have enough money of my own saved up and invest in a business invest in myself and not have to come back to this life.
No kid wakes up at five years old and wants to be a prostitute. No kid wakes up and just wants to be a bad person. "
Taylor: I want to stop you because being a prostitute does not make you a bad person.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm not a bad person. Yeah."
Taylor: For young women who are involved in commercial sex work prostitution, or being trafficked. What's your message to them?
"My message is, don't be afraid to ask for help."
Here are several agencies where you can get help here in the Northwest.
- REST
- YWCA gender-based violence
- Aurora Commons
- Organization for Prostitution Survivors
- 24-hour hotline: 206-451-7378